Please Make it end Already!

You know when you start a project and you have so much enthusiasm and energy for it and it all seems so great and fun? But then it just drags on and on and becomes like a weight around your neck and you wish that it was finished so you can move onto something else? That's where I am right now. And I'm sad to say, it's because of Super Mario.
I had to speed up my pace on this QAL to try and finish the quilt by 9/28 as that is the recipient's birthday. Because of that, I've been working on nothing but this quilt for the last 2 weeks or so and am becoming thoroughly sick of it. I thought I was very near the end on Thursday, as I had finished piecing the backing and was putting the sashing on the front.

That's the backing above. I knew I would need to add a bit of a border to the back to make it large enough for the front. As it turns out, it is quite a bit shorter than the front. I'm not sure if you can tell by looking at them separately, but here's the front.

So, instead of getting ready to sandwich on Friday, it was back to the machine for more blocks. Blocks made of tiny squares. Urgh! I decided to make 3 coin blocks to go across the top of the backing.

2 are done, 1 to go, and then I shall make it all fit. And hopefully still get this quilt finished by Friday! I really like how the quilt is turning out, I'm just tired of working on it. Now, grumble time is over, back to my machine....

Time to Reveal the Back of the Super Mario Quilt

And here it is, sans borders. This image is of Super Mario from Super Mario Kart. I used a crosstitch pattern I found on here and just used fabric instead of thread.

And here was my last block for the front.

I've started sashing the blocks and things are looking good for my 9/28 deadline!

Oh Would You Like to Swing on a Star...

A Super Mario invincibility star that is. Mine is now finished...

...as well as my 1-up Mushroom.

And now back to my Koopa shell, which is 3/8th of the way done!

Shy Guy and a 'Shroom

I'm on a roll now with my Super Mario blocks and have these two guys to prove it. Funny thing, I never knew this character's name until this QAL. It's Shy Guy and I don't know why I never heard it mentioned before.

And then we have the red mushroom.

Today I'll begin sewing the star and that will leave the green mushroom and the koopa shell block for the front. Linking up with

Blocks Blocks Blocks

Just a bit of block progress for some of my QALs. I may not be making great strides in the quilt making department, I'm doing more of the "slow and steady" wins the race type of making. To that end, here are a few of the blocks I finished this week.
For the How Far Will You Go? QAL I made the second of my Jack in the Box blocks. Again, with Terrain and Good Fortune.

Next I needed 3 of the Windblown Square blocks for the same QAL. At this point I reluctantly decided that I would not be able to get away with using just my purples and teals from the Terrain and Good Fortune lines. I would have to branch out to other colors since I don't want to purchase more fabric for this project. With that being said, here are my 3 Windblown Squares using the Oranges/Pinks/Greens of Terrain.

I'm trying to get ahead of the game in the Super Mario QAL as I really would like to get this sent off to the recipient soon. I've done the pipe block(please excuse the lumpiness of it, it needs a bit more pressing) and am halfway through Shy Guy. Then it will only be 2 mushrooms, a star and a shell, plus my backing.

I'm sorry to say I've been neglecting my Vintage Holiday QAL blocks and have not started on my Totally Groovy QAL quilt. :(

Super Mario QAL Progress

I've finished blocks 3 and 4 of the Super Mario QAL and am now actually one block ahead since I did the Fire flower block during the period I couldn't do the Goomba block.
I wasn't sure I was really going to like the cloud block, somehow it didn't seem exciting enough to me. I'm glad I went ahead and made it, I think it is pretty cute after all.

The Goomba block is a mess. I'm just glad it is over and done with!

In other good news, I started working on my backing for the Super Mario Quilt. I'm using a cross stitch pattern of Mario from Super Mario Kart from this website. Same concept as the front, only the squares are 2.5in. instead of 1.5in.

Fire Flower Block

I was supposed to have been working on the Goomba block for the Super Mario QAL but I did not have a satisfactory assortment of browns. Not wanting to get behind I decided to do a different block instead and have finished my Fire Flower block.
I used Kona Tomato for the red and either Butter or Canary for the yellow.

QAL Blocks Galore!

I got block busy over the weekend. As I've mentioned, I'm now in several quilt a longs. I haven't counted, but it's at least 5. I'm really enjoying these QALs, but I don't have any completely finished work to show, which kind of makes me feel like I'm not doing enough. Oh well, perhaps that will change soon.

For the Super Mario QAL, I now have Luigi done. This one did not go quite as smoothly as Mario did, hence the little puckers in some spots. I'm not fixing it, I'll just have to be more careful in future.

Next I've got the Susannah block for the
It's made with Terrain by Kate Spain and an Oliver & S print.

Then there's the

I'm a little ahead of schedule with this one, but since I am making two quilts for this QAL, I figured it's better to be ahead rather than behind. The first block is made with Cherry Christmas by Aneela Hooey and the second block is made with Flurry by Kate Spain.

And finally, two more blocks for the I've decided to make this one 12 blocks instead of 9. Four each from Vintage Modern, Ruby and Marmalade. These 2 are made with Marmalade.

It's Mario!

On Sunday I finally finished up my Mario block for the Super Mario QAL.
It didn't turn out too wonky or stretched out from not using any stabilizer, so I think I will be able to do the rest of the blocks sans Pellon.

I did come up with a method to use the wash away interfacing with some Lite Steam a Seam tape to hold my blocks down without adding too much stiffness.

That was the start of my Luigi block above, using the Steam a Seam tape. I think this would have worked quite well if only I had drawn my lines correctly!
After trying it out with three rows, I realized my sewn squares were looking pretty tiny. It turns out when I drew my grid on the interfacing, I was making my lines 1/8th in short. I think it had to do with the thickness of my ruler.
Anyone able to properly draw a grid should be able to use this method, and it would be a lot faster than sewing piece by piece.

Super Mario Block Progress and a Great Granny

I've made another Great Granny block; it's made with Vintage Modern this time. 2 down, 7 to go!

And here's how far along I am on my first block for the Super Mario QAL. It's going a bit slowly for me as I could not find the special Pellon stick n wash away fuse that would have allowed for quicker block assembly. Instead, I'm chain sewing each row, every tiny 1.5" square...It's really not so bad though, it goes quickly.